Three Local Homebuilders to
Build at Othello Station

Three local homebuilders — Polygon Northwest, Bennett/Sherman and Family Pryde — have entered into a landmark public-private partnership with Seattle Housing Authority to build and market 180 new homes. These builders have recently purchased lots from Seattle Housing in the emerging new neighborhood adjacent to the LINK Light Rail Othello Station in Southeast Seattle.

According to Seattle Housing project manager, Tom Phillips, “We are excited to bring the work of these builders into the city. I’m confident that they will provide excellent choices and high quality homes to help meet the demand for new homes in Seattle.”

The three builders will add significantly to the inventory of new homes for sale in Southeast Seattle, with a wide range of prices to the high $300,000s.

The total value of the lot sales is over $11.8 million. “This partnership allows the neighborhood and homebuyers to benefit from the expertise of these capable builders. At the same time, it maximizes the proceeds to the Housing Authority,” continued Phillips. Proceeds from these land sales make it possible for Seattle Housing to finance new low-income homes in the same neighborhood and elsewhere in Seattle.

Seattle Housing served successfully as developer/builder of the first 200 for-sale homes at the adjacent NewHolly neighborhood. However, since the agency’s expertise is in low-income housing, Seattle Housing directors concluded that private builders could better reflect buyers’ preferences and build the remainder of the new homes more efficiently.

Seattle Housing continues to direct the design of the new homes. All proposed designs must comply with a set of stringent design guidelines, written specifically for this neighborhood.

The largest purchaser of building lots is Polygon Northwest, which plans to build about 150 new homes in the area west of the intersection of Othello Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Polygon will build both single-family and townhouses, some with carriage houses. Polygon expects to offer its new homes with selling prices from $195,000 to $264,000.

A partnership between Bennett Homes and Sherman Homes has been created to acquire 22 lots south of Othello Street. The partnership will build and market 22 single-family homes, with prices beginning around $340,000. This land sale closed on July 16, and construction is now underway, with substantial completion expected by January 2007.

With the construction of new rental homes south of Othello Street nearly complete, the work of these builders will complete the homes in this new neighborhood. The entire neighborhood will consist of nearly 1,400 new homes. New services, including the NewHolly branch of the Seattle Public Library and a branch campus of South Seattle Community College, provide desirable new neighborhood amenities.

The builders will build in a variety of price ranges, so that some of the new homes will be affordable to first time home buyers and other less affluent owners as well as to higher-income buyers. Seattle Housing intends for the new neighborhood to be economically diverse, and the new homes will be marketed just as any other group of new homes in the city.

A recent study commissioned by the City of Seattle Office of Housing examined demand and supply in three Seattle Neighborhoods, including Southeast Seattle. Conducted by Real Vision Research, Inc., the study noted that the new homes being created by this redevelopment project will be welcomed by in-city buyers seeking housing near transit and convenient to downtown.